A photograph of activists raising their fists in front of the burning Third Precinct in Minneapolis in May 2020.

Four years ago today, demonstrators grieving the murder of George Floyd destroyed the Third Precinct in Minneapolis, showing the world what police abolition could look like in practice.

https://crimethinc.com/ThirdPrecinct

Immediately afterwards, politicians scrambled to promise to defund the police, if only activists would confine themselves to seeking change through the institutions of the state. None of those promises came true.

Instead, for four years, politicians of all stripes have engaged in a concerted effort to make us forget that moment of possibility, doing everything they can to equip the police with even more public funding and perceived legitimacy even as the police go on murdering with impunity.

In a society wracked by extreme disparities in wealth and power, police are essential to governance itself. The politicians can't afford to do without them. But neither capitalism nor police nor politicians are beneficial to the rest of us.

As we wrote in 2020,

"Remember this moment. Later, there will be misinformation campaigns, conspiracy theories, rumors to distract us from our agency. But right now, we are seeing what we can accomplish together when we stand up to our oppressors. Don't let anyone tell you we can't change the world."

Public

A photograph of activists raising their fists in front of the burning Third Precinct in Minneapolis in May 2020.

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